The philosopher and poet Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Arabi had the greatest influence on the formation and development of Sufism in the Islamic world. His followers called the mystic the greatest teacher. Ibn al-Arabi created Sufi literature and philosophy, awakening interest in them not only among Muslims. One way or another, but he influenced all subsequent Islamic mystics.
The future "greatest teacher or sheikh" (ash-shaikh al-akbar) of Sufism, which fully corresponds to the medieval Latin version of Magister Magnus, was born on July 28 (August 7) 1165 in the city of Murcia in the east of Andalusia. His father was an influential person at the court of the ruler of this region of Moorish Spain - Sultan Muhammad ibn Mardanish.
Soon the family of Ibn al-Arabi ended up in Seville (Ishbilia), which became the capital and cultural center during the Almohad dynasty. Here the boy received the basics of education, traditional for Muslims, which included the study of the Sunnah, Sharia (legislation) and the grammar of the Arabic language. However, under the influence of Sufi ideals, Ibn al-Arabi abandoned secular studies quite early and accepted initiation into a Sufi.
Biographers say that one of the closest friends of his father, the great Sufi Abd al-Qadir Jilani, had a decisive influence on the young al-Arabi. Even the birth of Ibn al-Arabi is mystically associated with the spiritual influence of Abd al-Qadir, who correctly predicted that the child would be an outstanding person. The decision of the young man to choose the spiritual path instead of a career as an official was influenced by the reconquista, during which the Christians first pushed and then completely ended Islam in the Iberian Peninsula.
In search of authoritative mentors, young al-Arabi set off on a journey across Andalusia and the Maghreb countries - North Africa. He visited Marrakech, Ceuta, Bedzhaya, Fez, Tunisia. In Tunisia, he met with the most significant Sufi teacher of the time, Abu Madyan. In 1180, in Cordoba, he met the famous Ibn Rushd (Latinized name - Averroes). By the age of 30, Ibn al-Arabi had gained respect and fame in Sufi circles due to his ability to philosophical and esoteric sciences, breadth of outlook and piety.
For two years - from 1195 to 1197 - Ibn al-Arabi settled in the city of Fez, where he communicated with theologians, mystics and Sufis. At this time, the Arab possessions in Andalusia were threatened with capture by the Castilian king Alfonso VIII, and Muslim theologians fiercely argued about the meaning of life.
In 1200, Ibn al-Arabi begins to prepare for the hajj - a pilgrimage to Mecca, leaves his native Andalusia forever and goes to the East. In Marrakesh, he experiences a vision in which, having turned into a bird hovering around the Divine Throne, he is ordered to poison himself in the Hajj, taking as his companions Muhammad al-Hassar, a scientist from Fez. He travels to Fez, then to Bedjaya, and then to Tunisia, again meeting with Abu Madyan.
In 1202, Ibn al-Arabi departed for Mecca through Alexandria and Cairo, where at that time, after several crop failures, there was a terrible famine. On the way to Mecca, he visited Jerusalem and Hebron, bowed to the tombs of the patriarchs, from where he moved to Medina, and in the same year ended up in Mecca.
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Here he wrote the famous poetry collection Tarjuman al-ashvak ("The Interpreter of Desires") - a collection of Sufi poems and a commentary on them. From 1223 until his death on December 10 (16), 1240, Ibn al-Arabi lived in Damascus, enjoying the patronage of religious and secular authorities.
In 1229, the Greatest Teacher is visited by a vision in which the Prophet Muhammad commands him to write the book Fusus al-hikam (Gemmas of Wisdom). In this work, Ibn al-Arabi developed a concept that later became known as wahdat al-wujud ("the unity of being"), which became the most important direction of Sufi thought and caused serious controversy among theologians.
In another of his works, Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya ("Meccan Revelations"), Ibn al-Arabi describes a joint ascent to Truth (this is how he prefers to call God Ibn al-Arabi. One of the "beautiful names" or attributes of Allah in Islam is "True ", Or" Truth "(al-haqq), and the sufi receives the highest knowledge of the mysteries of being at the moment of illumination or as a result of revelation, which is different from intellectual knowledge (ilmu), which can be reached in a rational way.
The written heritage of Ibn al-Arabi is about 400 (or much more) works, of which no more than 200 have survived. According to legend, at the beginning of the 16th century, a magnificent mausoleum was built over the grave of Muhammad ibn al-Arabi.
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